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The Wolf Scout den from Pack 505 recently toured the Contra Costa Transfer Station in Martinez. The tour was a part of learning about their living world. The scouts got to see how the garbage trucks dump the garbage inside the transfer station and how the bulldozers push the garbage into holes where it is piled into semi trucks for transfer to the landfill. Our tour guides, Jennifer Brennan and R.C. Ferris, explained how much garbage is brought in each day (over 2000 lbs) and how often there are recyclable items in the garbage. The transfer station doesn't do any sorting so those recyclables end up in the landfill along with the other garbage. The mounds of garbage and of course the smell made a big impact on the scouts. The scouts committed to double their efforts at home to help their families reduce, reuse and recycle.

At the end of the tour the scouts were rewarded with a real treat. One of the drivers, Mr. Manuel Martinez, graciously answered some of the scouts' questions and even invited the boys to look under the hood of his semi-truck. He let each one of them climb into the seat of his truck and honk the horn. At the end, in response to our thank you's, Mr. Martinez told the boys the one thing they could do for him in return was to do a good deed for someone else, as that was the only thanks that he needed.